Moonlight Destiny
by LadyLupin
Summary: Starring MWPP/L, my own created chara, and whoever else I decide to drag in, but centered around Remus, Snape & Cassi in a steamy love triangle.... (kidding!) PG for mild language. R&R or I'll set a werewolf on you. *Woohoo! I put up Ch. 3!*
1. Love Triangle

Moonlight Destiny, chapter 1

Moonlight Destiny  
By LadyLupin

**Chapter 1: Love Triangle**

{A/N: Yay! It's up! (Or at least it must be if you're reading it!) A fic about my favorite people in HP. Don't worry, the story WILL get around to somewhere eventually. I'm writing the next chapter right now, I promise. Meanwhile, sit back & enjoy!

........................

I said, Sit back and enjoy! 

James: ::pokes her:: You forgot the disclaimer, stupid.

Oh, soooorRY! Okay, none of these guys belong to me, Hogwarts doesn't either, they belong to J. K. Rowling, and I didn't invent them, except for Cassie, Jennica, and whoever else I decide to drag in here before this fanfic is over. But I'm not making any money off it, so just don't get your panties in a twist about it, kay? Happy, James?

James: Sit back and enjoy the show, folks.}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ooh, Potter, looks like you're in trouble again."

The young man in question, who had stood when he heard his name called by the teacher who had just walked in, now adjusted his glasses and glared disparagingly at his accuser. "Shut up, Snape."

"Now, now, Mister Potter, that's quite enough. Come along now, there's a good lad..."The professor who had requested Potter's presence led him out of the Charms classroom and into his own office. He sat him down and faced him seriously. 

"Now James, there's something very important I have to talk to you about..." 

Later that day, James Potter walked confidently down the halls of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, thoroughly enjoying mulling over the events of that morning. Seeing the look on Snape's face after he told him off had been good enough, but this... 

Suddenly he heard footsteps and heavy breathing behind him. "Hey, James, wait up!" 

He looked over his shoulder, and a smile came easily to his lips. It was Peter. "How're you doing?" he asked with a grin. "Glad to be back?" 

"I heard that Harris pulled you out of Charms today. Snape said you were in big trouble." 

Now James frowned. "Snape doesn't know when to keep that big mouth of his shut. Why were you listening to him, anyway?" 

"Well...he was on the grounds, and I just overheard..." Peter whimpered. 

"Aw, don't worry about it, Wormy," James brushed the issue aside and slapped his friend on the back amiably. 

"O-okay. So..." he started hesitantly again. "Is it...true?" 

James laughed out loud at this. "Of course not! Professor Harris just wanted to know if I would be accepting a nomination as Quidditch captain-which I will, of course." 

"Oh. I guess that makes sense. I mean, normally I wouldn't be surprised to hear you getting pulled out because you were in trouble, but on the first day..." 

"It would be a new school record!" announced a new voice, as two more boys came to join the pair. 

"You could have a plaque up," continued Sirius, who had spoken before, "next to all your Quidditch trophies--" 

"With the words, 'James Potter: Fastest Troublemaker in the History of Hogwarts'," Remus finished. "So, how did everyone enjoy the first day of our last year at Hogwarts?" 

"It was all right," said Peter. "At least until we got to Defense Against the Dark Arts, that is." Everyone shuddered at that thought. The teacher for that class, Professor Argent, was the head of Slytherin House and had been the bane of their existence since their first year. This year would be no exception--they were now studying some of the most powerful curses in existence, and they had the feeling that one of their own might end up falling victim to one before the year's end. 

"Don't worry. Look, we all have transfiguration tomorrow," Remus pointed out. "I think we've got a new transfiguration professor this year." 

Sirius chuckled. "What, did old Horky never get himself changed back?" he asked, referring to an unfortunate accident their previous Transfiguration teacher had had near the end of last term. 

"Nah, the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad got him fixed up pretty quick," said Remus. "He wants to take a year off now though. Just our luck, too. I've heard people talking about the new witch they've got in there--her name's McGonagall, and they're saying she's a real bear." 

James raised an eyebrow. "Minerva McGonagall?" 

"What, do you know her?" 

"No, not--don't you remember, she was the one we came across when we--" 

"Oh, yeah, I remember!" Remus grinned suddenly. "Hey, that reminds me, James-did I leave my Arithmancy book at your house? I couldn't find it when I was packing." 

"Jeez, Remus, you're not even taking Arithmancy this year," James muttered as he dug through his bookbag. 

"Yeah, I've got it. I found it under my bed after you left. A couple of the corners are a little chewed up, but you've got no one but yourself to blame for that..." 

"Wait--what's all this about?" Sirius asked curiously, as they were obviously talking about something he had no idea about. 

Remus, after taking the book James handed to him, turned to Sirius and grinned. "Oh, you have to hear this. So, Peter and I were over at James's for about a week in the middle of July-" 

"What?" Sirius exclaimed, glancing back and forth at his friends and looking betrayed. "Why didn't anyone tell me about this?" 

"You were on vacation in Transylvania!" James shot back. "We tried to get in touch with you-we must have sent four owls-" 

"Five," Remus corrected. 

"-but you never answered, and none of the owls ever came back. Trying to deliver to a place like that, it's not surprising. I don't know why your parents decided to take a family vacation there of all places. I mean, there are any number of things that could have happened to those poor owls. They could have been caught by harpies, driven off course by banshees-" 

"Exsanguinated by vampires," Remus added helpfully as James continued. 

"-swiped by hags, eaten by werewolves-er...oh... Sorry, Remus." 

"Quite all right," his friend answered. 

"The point is, we tried our hardest, and I even sacrificed my best owl in the process, but we could not get you notified soon enough," James concluded. 

"Oh, but Sirius, you should have been there," Remus said wistfully. "Like I said, it was along about the third week in July, and it was right in the middle of the lunar cycle, so there was a full moon the night before we left-" 

"Oh no," Sirius groaned. "But-your parents didn't even care?" he asked Remus incredulously. 

"I don't think his parents even remembered," James chortled. 

"Oh, they remembered. Truth to tell, I think they were glad to get me out of the house." 

Sirius turned to James. "But what about you, James? Your mother gets worked up when you bring home so much as a stray kitten. I can just see how she would react to having a fully transformed werewolf in her house." 

"We weren't in the house-except at the beginning," Remus explained, "and I think it was the night that his mother had gone out to visit some friend or another-" 

"Hey Peter," James joined in, "Tell Sirius what almost happened to you." 

"Well...okay," Peter started. "Like Remus said, it was the night before we were going to leave, and we were up in James's room, thinking of what hexes would be the most fun to try out on the Slytherins this year, and it got to be just after sunset, when all of the sudden, Remus turns to James and says, 'James, what's the date?' and he looked kind of nervous, and James answers him and says it's the seventeenth, and asked why he wanted to know, and I guess he was about to tell us, but just then the moon rose, and so we kind of figured it out after that. Remus was right, James's mum wasn't there that night, and it was a really good thing, too, because normally when we were in James's room, we tried to be really quiet so she wouldn't know what we were up to, but she definitely would have heard that. It was quite frightening." 

"You think it's bad to watch, you should try doing it sometime," Remus commented wryly. 

"Anyway," James picked up the narrative, "Remus transformed, and he immediately went after Peter, who was standing right in front of him. I didn't have time to even think, but I grabbed Remus's Arithmancy book off the bed and threw it at him. It hit him on the back of his head, and he started gnawing on that for a few seconds, which gave Peter time to transform. He scampered down the stairs and out the back door with Remus right on his heels. Scared the living daylights out of Sprolly, and I think they might have knocked down a vase or two on their way, which my mother wasn't too happy about afterward," he admitted. 

Remus chuckled. "That's too bad. I hope you didn't get in too much trouble. So," Remus took up the story, "when we all got outside, James transformed and proceeded to knock me around a little, which calmed me down a bit, I think. Fortunately, James lives out in the boonies, which meant there was no danger we would run into anyone-or so we thought. We were in that big grassy field just east of his house, pretty much just wandering around joking around with each other, and both Peter and James looking out in case his mum came back, and that went on for about half an hour. But just then, we were getting ready to head out, and we were right on the edge of the field, next to the road, when we...ran into...another..." 

His narrative trailed off as something across the hall suddenly caught his eye and caused him to lose his focus. Curious, his three friends came up next to him and turned the direction he was facing to see what had so completely captured his attention. 

"Aw, Moony!" Sirius said with rising amusement as he knowingly nudged his friend. At the same time, James started snickering behind him. 

For what had undermined Remus's concentration was, of course, a girl. She looked like a fifth- or possibly sixth-year, a petite young witch with long, shimmering black hair and dark skin which bespoke an Asian heritage. 

"So, Remus...who is she...?" Sirius murmured in his ear. 

"Well," Remus stammered, and he could not keep himself from blushing furiously, "she's just...this girl; I met her in Diagon Alley when I was getting supplies for school. 

"And...?" James cajoled for more information. 

"And nothing!" Remus bristled slightly under the scrutiny of the three others. "I saw her when I was browsing through Flourish & Blotts, and we talked for a while, and then I left. That's all." 

"But she seemed quite nice, right?" James added helpfully. 

"And she is very attractive," Sirius observed, still watching the girl. 

"Oh, shut up," Remus griped, but he couldn't help but smile. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Cassandra Nightwalker had a lot on her mind as she walked the corridors of the castle, so deep in her thoughts as to be nearly oblivious to anything around her. She'd seen that boy again, the one she'd talked to in Flourish & Blotts. He had been reasonably attractive, and quite interesting to talk to. Today, though, he had been hanging around a bunch of students she'd recognized as being in _Gryffindor_-her lip curled slightly at the thought-but then, he'd struck her as that type from the start. A pity, she thought and shrugged, but no great loss. 

"Spider's Fang," she spoke, and the wall slid away for her. She entered the common room and sank into a chair by the fire, resting a moment before she had to start tackling her homework. It really wasn't fair, to get so stressed out on the first day, but she had to expect it with the course load she was taking. Not to mention everything else she was working on... 

"Busy first day?" someone murmured next to her. 

Cassandra's eyes flew open at the sound of the voice. It was a voice she recognized, a voice which set her heart pounding even before she looked up to see his face, with that slight, shrewd smile and piercing gaze. "Uh huh," she answered in barely more than a whisper, too dazed by his nearness to say more. He nodded slightly in response and walked past to join some friends of his on the other side of the common room. 

Cassandra sat back happily and a small smile crept to her lips as excitement replaced her nervousness. He actually talked to her! Already, on the first day of class! 

Her moment of ecstasy, unfortunately, was interrupted by a strident giggle from a chair next to her. Cassandra glanced over at the irksome one, which she discovered to her dismay was one of her fellow sixth-years, Jennica Branson. 

Her glare only made the giggling rise in pitch. "Looks like somebody still has a crush on Severus!" Jennica taunted. 

"Oh, hush," Cassandra muttered, as she grabbed her books and headed for the dormitory where she could study in peace. 

{A/N again: That's it. That was the first chapter. Did you like it? Hey! You! Write me a review, or I'll hex you for all you're worth! I know some good ones, too. ::grrrrrrrrr:: 

James: ::pokes LL again:: Don't be so mean to the readers-they're doing you a favor by reading your stuff, you know. 

Heeeeyyy! Those antlers are sharp! Okay, okay, please be nice and review my fic.} 


	2. Potions Partners

Moonlight Destiny, chapter 2

Moonlight Destiny  
By LadyLupin

**Chapter 2: Potions Partners**

{A/N: Okay, the second chapter is up! Sorry if the end is a little crappy; I finished the chapter kind of fast so I could get it up before I leave for college. The next one will be better, I promise! Oh, and just so you know, _sempai_ is a Japanese word used to address someone who's socially superior to you, like an upperclassman. Oh, yeah, one more thing ::sings:: One of these things is not like the others / 17103 of these things are kind of the same... Take a good, long look at their professors... you may be surprised... }

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night, just as Cassandra was finishing up her homework and putting her books away, she heard a knock on the dormitory door. Wondering rather irritably who would come all the way down and then knock to come in, she opened the door to see a scrawny, sallow-looking second-year standing there.

"What?" Cassandra snapped.

The girl slunk back a step. "Hey, Cassi, I--"

Cassandra scowled and slapped the girl across the face. "You were here last year. You know how you're supposed to address me."

"Yes, _sempai_," the younger student responded sullenly. "Professor Argent wants to talk to you."

"Fine. Where is he?"

"He's coming to the common room."

"Alright. Now get out of here." The second-year scampered off as Cassandra made her way back upstairs.

She found Jennica still sitting in the same spot by the fire. "Is Professor Argent here yet?" she asked.

"Nuh-uh," Jennica replied without really paying attention. The she looked up at Cassandra over the back of her chair, and her eyes lit up. "Is he coming here?" She squealed with delight as the wall opened. "Oh, there he is!"

Cassandra groaned silently and rolled her eyes, although she had been in much the same attitude over Severus only a short time before. Jennica had had a crush on their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher ever since he had started teaching at Hogwarts in their fourth year. He was only in his mid-twenties, or at least he looked it, but he was already head of Slytherin House because none of the other teachers were willing to take on that responsibility. The recent proliferation of Dark witches and wizards, and the rise of this self-styled Dark Lord, had made all the other teachers avoid it at all costs, either because of what association with that House would do to their reputations, or simply because they were terrified of some of the students there.

Cassandra walked over to meet him as he entered, while Jennica looked on enviously. "You wanted to see me, sir?" she said respectfully.

"Yes. Come with me." He led her to a secluded and empty corner of the common room where they would not be bothered.

"Miss Nightwalker," Professor Argent began. "Professor Woodfield tells me that your Potions work last year was some of the best he's ever seen. He feels that you are a very gifted student, and might do better to take Potions with the seventh-years this year."

Cassandra smiled at the complement, with pride and a glint of ambition in her expression.

Professor Argent nodded in response. "I know I need not ask if you accept. It is a chance any worthy Slytherin would welcome. Unfortunately," he continued, "your current schedule will not allow you to attend the class with the Slytherin seventh-years. I can offer you the choice of attending with the Hufflepuffs, who meet on Fridays at 1:00, or the Gryffindors, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:00."

Cassandra considered carefully. She and her fellow Slytherins tended to hate everything to do with Gryffindor just on principle, and class with them was annoying at best. However, Hufflepuff house had a reputation for more incompetent students than any other, and for a devoted student like her, trying to put up with that for a whole year sounded like pure torture.

"I think I'll go with the Gryffindors," she answered finally. "At least there I might get to work with someone who actually knows what they're doing."

Professor Argent smiled. "I expected that of you, Miss Nightwalker. Very well, I shall inform Professor Woodfield that you will be joining his class tomorrow morning.

"There is one more thing," he said before she got up to leave. "Someone from the Ministry of Magic will be arriving some time in the next few weeks to discuss your application to become an Animagus. I must say, it is quite an ambitious goal for a witch your age."

"We'll see," she replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What do we have first this morning?" asked Sirius as the four boys walked out of the Great Hall after breakfast.

"Ummmm... Potions," James answered after digging his schedule out of his bookbag.

Just then, Remus stopped short. "Shoot, guys, I forgot my book. It's still in the common room."

"You can borrow mine," James offered. "Besides, we probably won't need them today."

"No--ah, that's okay. I'll just kip back and get it." He turned around and took of down the hall at a run.

"Hurry up, class is about to start," Sirius called after him.

"Don't," said James severely as the three made their way down to the dungeons."

"What?" said Sirius.

"He's not really going to try and make it to Gryffindor Tower and back before the bell rings, is he?" asked Peter. "We've only got," he checked his watch, "one and a half minutes left."

James shook his head. "The moon's only three days waning, he really shouldn't be exerting himself like that, and Sirius, you shouldn't have--"

Sirius sighed exaggeratedly. "Yes, mother," he said with a grin as they walked into the classroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cassandra was the first student in the Potions classroom that morning. She set up her cauldron and supplies at the front of the room, near the teacher's desk, and waited as the Gryffindor students arrived and started pairing off around her. When the bell rang, she was still partnerless; all of the Gryffindors had avoided her completely, although some of them gave her sideways looks as they walked in. She hoped that Professor Woodfield would let her work alone.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Professor Woodfield addressed the class. "I would like to welcome you all to your final year learning about the noble art of potion-making. Now, as many of you may have noticed, we have a new student in our class this year." He motioned for Cassandra to come forward and face the class, which she did, though reluctantly.

"I want you all to say hello to Cassandra Nightwalker. Miss Nightwalker is a sixth-year from Slytherin House, whose excellent Potions marks last year led me to invite her to join us in this class this year."

A wave of muttering swept through the classroom. The other students didn't seem too eager to accept her--not that she cared, of course.

"Ah, Miss Nightwalker," the professor said more quietly, turning to speak to her, "there does not seem to be anyone left for you to pair up with. Do you want to work alone, or would you like to join another pair for today--now let me see, are we missing someone today...?" He trailed off as he looked back over to his desk to check the roll.

"I can work alone, thank you," Cassandra replied curtly. She was just about to move back to her place when the door swung open once more. "Sorry I'm late, Professor," said a breathless voice. It was the boy from Flourish and Blotts, the same boy she had seen in the halls the day before.

"Ah, wonderful!" exclaimed Professor Woodfield. "Mr. Lupin, you can work with Miss Nightwalker, right up here, there you go. Hurry and set up so we can start class."

"Hi," said the boy named Lupin with a grin as he set his things down next to hers.

"Hello," she answered coldly, extremely put out at losing the opportunity to stay as far away from her classmates as possible.

The class went by more quickly than Cassandra could have expected an hour in a room full of Gryffindors to pass. By the end of class, she knew that the work was going to be a lot more challenging than she had expected it to be. Still, there was no way her pride would let her back out now.

"Now, class," Professor Woodfield said before they left. "Because the potions you make in this class will be some of the most difficult known to wizarding kind, I feel it is necessary that you all know the people you will be working with extremely well. That being the case, I would like you to remain with the people you worked with today for the rest of the year." There were excited cheers from many in the class, and moans from some of the rest. "I am sure you will all do an excellent job, so please do not come to me with any requests to change unless you can think of a very good reason. That will be all; class is dismissed."

_What?_ was all Cassandra could think as she left the dungeons in stunned disbelief. _I have to work shackled to Mr. "Sorry, but potions isn't my best subject" for a whole_ year?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Man, Remus, I can't believe you ended up partners with the new girl!" said James on their way out.

"I can't believe you and Peter are together while I got stuck with Lisa Thatcher," said Sirius. "She is the most stuck-up, know-it-all, little..."

"Hey, wait--wasn't she that girl you were staring at in the halls yesterday, Moony?" interrupted Peter.

"Who, Lisa?" said Remus distractedly; he was not paying very much attention to the conversation going on around him.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "No, wolf-brain, the new girl. Your Potions partner."

"Oh, yeah. Cassandra..."

"Was that her name?" Sirius glanced back over at Remus. "Geez, Moony, get a grip."

"This is incredible," said James. "Remus, I have tried for seven years to get you to pay attention to girls, and suddenly you fall head-over-heels for a Slytherin?"

Remus reddened slightly. "I am not--" he tried to protest, but could not, it seemed, find the words to argue.

~*~

{A/N again: If anyone is shocked by the violence in this chapter, here's my explanation: I figured that the relationship between students in Slytherin is very hierarchical, there's like a pecking order, y'know--and people in the lower eschelons get smacked around a lot. Please review, it's not that hard, but if you criticize my work, make sure it's polite & intelligent or I'll sign you up to be used as an experimental charms test subject...}   
  



	3. Serpents Twined

Moonlight Destiny  
By LadyLupin

**Chapter 3: Serpents Twined**

{A/N: Yay! Third chapter is finally up! (I have more time now 'cause it's the end of the semester.) I should have chapter 4 up soon too, so stay tuned! Oh, and in case you didn't figure out the question from last chapter's AN -- I have seen ONE other author besides me who thinks that paralelling all the profs in MWPP generation with profs from Harry's (eg. Potions prof is gratuitously evil head of Slytherin, etc.) is boring and overdone. So things are a little different here. Whew, this AN is getting long, but I still have to put the disclaimer in.

Remus: Forget the disclaimer. I'll bite anyone who tries to sue you.

:) Tempting, but I wouldn't ask you to stoop so low. Cassandra, Jennica, Yumeko (yay Yume-chan!) and anyone else you don't recognize were invented by me. Everyone else belongs to JK Rowling, her publishers, WB, etc.

PS – I noticed when I looked at this on FFN that like half the fic isn't showing up (and it's the best half, too!) Which is weird, because the HTML doc shows up fine when I view it in various browsers. I'm going to upload it again, and hopefully it will work this time.}

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"Why does class have to be so hard?" Cassandra moaned as she slogged through her Potions homework as she had every night for the past month. Intelligent as she had believed herself to be, she was completely unprepared for the level at which her professor expected her to perform. Only sheer strength of will and a stubborn refusal to admit failure kept her struggling along.

"What's the matter?" Jennica asked, not seeming very concerned. Of course, it was all very well for her. She didn't need to worry about her grades so much. She was pretty well content with what her parents had planned for her already-marry young and rich, into a suitably prestigious family. And of course, this rather colored her handling of others' school problems.

A rather malicious grin crept over Jen's face. "You know, Snape is really good at potions..."

Cassi's face burned crimson. "No, Jen. For the last time, no."

"Come _on_, Cassi, I know you still have your eye on him. Why--"

Cassi leaned in and lowered her voice. "I can't get involved with him," she hissed. "He's from one of the most important families here, right up with you and the Malfoy kid. It wouldn't work," she sighed. "When he finds out that my father--"

"He doesn't have to know," Jenn said easily. "He never has to know."

Cassi's eyes widened. "But--" Jennica stood up deciseively. "Jennica, no," Cassandra protested. But Jenn tossed her head pertly and pranced over to the corner of the common room where Snape and his gang hung out. She said a few things in a voice too low to hear, glancing over a couple of times to where Cassandra sat still, mortified. Soon, _he_ was walking over toward her.

"Jennica says you're having trouble with Potions," he said rather indifferently.

Cassandra just shrugged, although inside she was raging. He must think she was the stupidest, weakest person alive! How could Jenn do this to her?

Then again, having him close to her was very nice. And he was a year older than her; it wouldn't hurt too much to submit to his help for a little while.

"Here," he began. "It won't do to have you looking foolish in front of a room full of Gryffindors. Now, I believe both our classes are studying the various uses of monkshood..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, Anna, your turn. Who is this guy you seem to have a secret crush on?"

The group of upper-level girls which had gathered in the Gryffindor seventh year girls dormatory erupted in giggles as the accused looked at her accuser in shock and then blushed bright red. 

"It's no one, really..." she tried to say.

Lily Evans didn't buy it. "Come on, Anna. We all know you've been writing love notes to someone, and we want to know who it is!"

Anna fidgeted in embarrassment. "T-Tory," she said quietly.

Gasps and more giggles came from various girls around the room. "Tory what's-his-name, the Ravenclaw prefect?" one of them asked. Anna nodded, looking like she wished she could melt into the floor.

"Professor Argent docked her 10 points for not paying attention in Defense Against the Dark Arts today," Yumeko Nightwalker, a Ravenclaw fifth-year, informed the group.

One of the seventh-years laughed. "I bet she was daydreaming about kissing him. Tory!" she corrected _very_ quickly.

"So?" Anna turned to her defensively. "Who were you daydreaming about in Potions last week, Gal? You nearly blew up your entire class!"

"Yeah, Galatia," said Lily with a knowing tone. "Who _were_ you dreaming about?"

Gal glared. "Lily, that's not fair! You promised--"

Lily just raised her eyebrows. "I promised I wouldn't tell _him_. But Anna confessed to all of us, so it's only fair..."

Gal sighed. "Alright, alright." She took a deep breath. "Remus Lupin," she muttered.

More shrieks and laugher ensued, but this time, Lily's head jerked around as if she had heard something else. "What was that?" she said, looking around the room suspiciously. 

"What was what?" asked Charlotte Azaile, the only fourth year and the youngest girl there.

"Nothing," said Lily slowly, though she still looked on edge.

"Well what about you, Lily?" began Gal in a rather biting voice. "I'm sure our _esteemed_ Head Girl would _never_ get caught daydreaming about kissing boys in class--"

"Kissing boys in class?" Yumeko piped in. "Now that's something to dream about..."

Gal scowled at the criticism of her bad use of English, then continued. "But I _think_ we can get her to confess who _she's_ had a crush on all term..."

"Go ahead," said Lily defiantly. "I'm not afraid to admit who I like."

"Okay, then, tell us," Gal challenged.

Lily faltered slightly, as if she hadn't expected her bluff to be called.

"Come on! Come on!" the other girls prodded her.

Lily drew herself up proudly. "Fine. I am in love with James Potter," she said with perfect confidence, though it looked as if it had cost her some effort.

There were gasps and tittering whispers all over the room. The Head Girl in love with the Head Boy! But now there were definitely other sounds too, sounds that didn't belong.

"Now I know I hear something," Lily said darkly. She held up a hand for the girls to be silent and gazed around the room with the expression of a stalking cat. She jumped up suddenly and flung the door open "Okay, who's been eavesdropping--"

There was no one there. But from _behind_ her, in the room, she heard a _thud_ and muffled voices.

"Ouch!"

"Oh, crap!"

Lily felt something brush past her, and saw a glimpse of motion hurrying down the stairs toward the common room.

She turned back into the room and growled in sheer consternation. "Boys are so _stupid!_"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remus looked up from his potions homework with an expression of anticipating disaster as Sirius and James came hurtling into the common room laughing their heads off. Peter gave them a halfway inquiring look, as if afraid to know what they had been up to.

Sirius grinned. "Guess where me, James, and James's invisibility cloak just came back from."

Remus looked at them, then at the direction the had come in, then back at them with an apalled look "You didn't." 

They just laughed.

"The girls' dormitory? Guys, that is either the most juvenile thing you have done this year, or the most perverted. Maybe both."

"Ah, lighten up, we didn't actually see anything," James said easily. "They were all up there gossiping, talking about, eh, boys--" James stopped rather abruptly, and Sirius started cracking up again. 


End file.
